amethyst

plural amethysts

1. A transparent purple to violet variety of quartz with traces of manganese, used as a gemstone.

   I'm not bragging, but I had mica, pyrite, and an amethyst in my collection, oh yea. (Side note to readers: Amethysts, those big purple crystal ones, were a big panty dropper back in the day. […])

   2015, David Spade, Almost Interesting: The Memoir, HarperCollins, →ISBN

   2 more examples

   The burning evening sun lighted with mellow gold the coats of the fierce little tiger-kittens — orange silk with stripes of black velvet — the broken amethysts and ruined emeralds of the poor bird's train cruelly scattered over the trampled grass

   1894, Sir Edwin Arnold, Wandering Words, page 260

   Although there are dozens of different types of gems, among the best known and most important are […] . (Common gem materials not addressed in this article include amber, amethyst, chalcedony, garnet, lazurite, malachite, opals, peridot, rhodonite, spinel, tourmaline, turquoise and zircon.)

   2012 March 28, Lee A. Groat, “Gemstones”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 14 Jun 2012, page 128

2. uncountableA purple colour.
3. governmentThe tincture purpure, when blazoning by precious stones.

   The Field is Topaz, a Lion rampant Amethyst [...]

   1726, John Guillim, The Banner Display'd, page 407

   2 more examples

   Purple, on the arms of princes Mercury, of peers amethyst, and of commoners purpure, [is represented] by diagonal lines from the sinister chief to the dexter base.

   1834, The Art of Heraldry; Explaining the Origin and Use of Arms and Armorial Bearings, Etc, page 14

   1st & 4th grand Quarter alike viz. Field Pearl, on a bend Sapphire 3 Buckheads, coup'd topaz for Stanley. The 2d Quarter, Field Sapphire with an inverted Chief, amethyst. The 3d, A Checque topaz & Amethyst, this seems prior to Bosworth field, to have belong'd to Sr Robt Goushill whose Dr a Stanley married …

   1906 (printed), The Beetham Repository, 1770 (eds. William Hutton, John Rawlinson Ford), page 115

comparative more amethyst · superlative most amethyst

1. Having a colour similar to that of the gemstone

1. A female given name.

   The Australian rapper Iggy Azalea was born Amethyst Amelia Kelly.